The Dell G7 gaming laptop has been refreshed into a thinner and more modern looking machine,
but just how well does it perform in games with Nvidia’s latest RTX graphics? In this
video I’ve benchmarked 20 different games at all setting levels to show you how well
it runs, and compared it against some other gaming laptops to see how it stacks up.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got an Intel i7-8750H CPU with Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics and 16gb of memory running
in dual channel. The G7 is available in different configurations, you can check updated prices
for different models in the description.
I’ll also note that Dell has already refreshed the G7 lineup with Intel's latest 9th gen
CPUs, so expect slightly different results there.
I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers available, and just a reminder we’re
only looking at gaming performance here, if you’re new to the channel get subscribed
for the upcoming full review which covers everything. We’ll start off with the results
from all 20 games at all setting levels, then compare with some other laptops afterwards
to see how the G7 stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. The purple bars show the results with ray tracing
disabled, while the green bars show RTX on. The RTX results weren’t great at ultra and
high settings, though it was mostly playable. For a game like this I’d want higher FPS
though, and RTX off at ultra settings looks better and runs similarly to RTX on at low
settings.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, and was performing quite well, with
ultra settings still able to reach above 100 FPS, while around medium settings would be
a good match for the optional 144Hz display.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. It played alright even with
everything maxed out, averaging about 80 FPS, and averaging about 47% higher with everything
on minimum.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark. In this test above 75 FPS averages
were possible at ultra, very similar to other 2060 laptops that I’ve covered.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were ahead of the
newer Far Cry New Dawn just covered, and we’ll see how this one compares to some other laptops
later.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and while I have to regularly refresh the
replay due to updates I test in the same area. Even with max settings over 100 FPS was easily
possible in this seemingly well optimized game.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, as other
players, bots and even different maps in actual gameplay affect the frame rate and this allows
for consistent testing. Even maxed out at epic settings was giving us around 140 FPS,
plenty to take advantage of the optional 144Hz screen.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, the results were alright
here, close to many other 2060 laptops I’ve tested so far, but again there will be some
comparisons with other laptops later.
Metro Exodus was also tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case but does let you perform
the same test to compare against.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and like always high frame rates were coming
out of this test. Even with all settings at maximum over 160 FPS was possible with much
lower at lower settings if you need it.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and is a game I’ve found to
benefit from Nvidia’s new turing architecture. Even with ultra settings almost 120 FPS was
possible in this test.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and over 100 FPS was possible even with the
settings maxed out at ultra, with closer to 130 at very low settings. Honestly not too
different from most other laptops that I’ve tested recently.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, still enough to play
the game fine, and at most setting levels I found it was performing a little ahead of
the G5 with same specs that I’ve previously tested.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and it was running very smoothly without any problems at all. Even ultra settings were
capable of 140 FPS in this game, so another that would benefit from the optional 144Hz
panel upgrade.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource intensive game, although I still found it to play perfectly
fine even with ultra settings. With a stable 30 FPS to me it runs fine, and we’re seeing
that with the 1% low maxed out.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark. Unless
you’ve got a top of the line laptop, 60 FPS at ultra in this test is basically not
possible, but could be reached in this test with very high settings.
The Witcher 3 was running well with hairworks disabled, and played well with ultra settings
in my test, although you can get much higher frame rates if you prefer with lower settings,
with almost 150 at low, but personally I’d just use the higher settings and have it looking
better, given I don’t think it benefits much from huge FPS.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and this game runs very well on basically anything. Even
with max settings I was seeing very high frame rates, above 100 for the 1% low, so it was
playing extremely smoothly.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan, and this one was also
running well, almost 100 FPS at ultra settings in the built in benchmark, with low settings
almost doubling this.
Shadow of War was tested with the built in benchmark, and is another game that I’ve
found to benefit from Nvidia’s new Turing architecture. The results look alright, plenty
for playing the game in any case, with almost 100 FPS reached in this test at high settings.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the Dell G7 compares with other laptops
to see how it stacks up, use these results as a rough guide only as they were tested
at different times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the G7 up the top in red, and the results were extremely
similar to the G5 that I tested with same specs. The Clevo NH58EDQ that I’ve recently
tested was further ahead, due to excellent CPU performance I found in that machine, while
the ASUS Scar II also saw higher average FPS, and a bit higher 1% low.
Here are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark. The results
are similar to other 2060 laptops I’ve tested, though it does seem to be just slightly below
the others, and also behind the Dell G5 with same specs, but realistically still quite
close.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings, and in this one the G7 scored the same as the G5, and again similar to most
of the other 2060 laptops that I’ve tested. Let me know if you’d be interested in seeing
a dedicated comparison between the G5 and G7 down in the comments.
Overall I thought the gaming performance from the new Dell G7 gaming laptop was alright,
it seems to be pretty well inline with many other laptops I’ve tested with i7-8750H
CPU, RTX 2060 graphics, and dual channel memory.
So how do you guys think the new Dell G7 gaming laptop did in these games? Let me know your
thoughts down in the comments, and get subscribed so you don’t miss the upcoming full review
which will include everything else such as thermal testing.